Jackie Bolden christens the mobile landing platform Montford Point on Saturday. general dynamics-nASSCO

San Diego 
The first in a new class of huge Navy logistics ships was christened Saturday at General Dynamics-NASSCO during a celebration that was tempered by federal budget cuts that could soon force San Diego’s largest shipyard to lay off hundreds of workers.

Jackie Bolden, the ship’s sponsor, cracked a bottle of Champagne against the hull of the 765-foot Montford Point, drawing cheers from the 1,000 people who turned out to see the Navy’s revolutionary mobile landing platform (MLP) ship.

The $500 million vessel — which will be used as a floating base for amphibious operations — is named after former Camp Montford Point in Jacksonville, N.C., where the first African-American Marines trained in the 1940s. More than 30 of those Marines were present for Saturday’s christening.

The Navy will use the so-called “pier at sea” as a staging area for equipment, supplies, sailors and Marines. Everything from helicopters to hovercraft will move materials and Marines from ship to shore.

“Whether used for a major combat operation or a regional theater exercise, the MLP will further enable the Navy and Marine Corps team’s ability to remain both a forward deployed hedge force against uncertainty, and the partner of choice for many of our allies around the world,” said Gen. James F. Amos, commandant of the Marine Corps.

Amos read a letter from Navy Secretary Ray Mabus who said, in part, the 20,000 Montford Point Marines were “forced to train apart from other Marines, not because they lacked skills, or courage, or dedication to their country, but simply because of the color of their skin … Those Marines at Montford Point Base silenced the critics when they answered the call, and their recognition, long overdue, is well deserved.”

One of the Montford Point Marines in the crowd on Saturday was Ed Pfizer of New Orleans, who enlisted in 1942 and served for three years.

“I was one of the first ones to sign up,” said Pfizer. “We fought two wars — we fought Jim Crow and we fought the Japanese.”

Pzifer added that Montford Point “was muggy, full of mosquitoes and snakes. Let me tell you: That’s the kind of place you build a Marine base. It was pure hell. If the order came down for us to run 10 miles, the (white) drill sergeants would make us run 20. They told us, ‘You’re here now, but you’re not going to make it. We won’t let you.’ The ‘n-word’ was the word of the day. But we went through it and we set every record there was to set.”

Theodore Peters of Chicago, who also trained at Montford Point, said, “Many people now don’t know (that) all this happened. It feels like history’s been sleeping.”

Montford Point is the first of three MLPs scheduled to be built at NASSCO, the last major shipbuilder on the West Coast. Funding currently exists for all of the vessels. But the budget cuts that are now being made under sequestration could delay some of the repair and modernization work NASSCO and other local yards are scheduled to do. That could lead to layoffs.

Recently-elected Congressman Juan Vargas, a Democrat whose district takes in NASSCO, said during Saturday’s ceremony that the Montford Point is a “symbol of peace and reconciliation. Maybe we should put it in the Capitol, on the lawn.”